WASHINGTON - The struggling US economy added no jobs in August, a far worse reading than expected, official data showed Friday.
The Labor Department said the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1 percent for a second month amid the zero job growth.
After a series of weak economic data, analysts had lowered their expectations for job growth, with the average estimate at net 70,000 in August.
That would be well below the 100,000 seen as necessary to support a steady unemployment rate, according to Briefing.com economists.
Employment in the private sector, which has been the main engine for jobs growth as revenue-strapped governments shed workers, "changed little" in most major industries, the Labor Department said.
The unchanged jobless rate was expected.
Europe's main stock markets slumped sharply in Friday afternoon trade on news of the US jobs report.
At around 1230 GMT, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid were all down more than 3.0 percent, with other European markets also deeply in the red.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares lost some 2.2 percent in reaction to the US lead and as investors followed fresh problems in Greece and Italy which pushed the eurozone debt crisis back into sharp focus.
Meanwhile gold extended gains, as investors sought refuge in safe haven assets.
Spot gold rose to a session high of US$1,873.10 an ounce in London, before easing back to US$1,870.14 by 1235 GMT, compared to US$1,824.55 late in New York on Thursday.
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